When the news came out this week that NBC will be the broadcast home of the new Augusta National Women’s Amateur tournament next April, it brought up a wound for the desert’s LPGA tournament.

The final round of the 54-hole women’s amateur event at Augusta National, the home of the Masters, will be played on April 6 next year. That happens to be the day of the third round of the ANA Inspiration, the LPGA major championship played at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage.

When Augusta National announced the tournament the week of the Masters this year – just days after the ANA Inspiration was completed with an eight-hole playoff that required a Monday finish – golf fans fell into two camps. There were those who believed that any women’s tournament at Augusta National would elevate the women’s game, and that any damage done to the ANA Inspiration would be worth it to help women’s golf in the long run.

And there were those who felt that the powers that be at Augusta National simply decided to throw their weight around, blindsiding the LPGA and turning their back on a tournament with more than four decades of important history and tradition for women’s golf. After a few days, it was clear a majority of fans and many of the younger members of the LPGA were coming down on the side of the new tournament.

The truth, as always, tends to rest somewhere in the middle of the two camps. Anyone who argues that the new tournament won’t have a negative impact on the ANA Inspiration is being naïve. The existence of a tournament at Augusta National that week featuring women golfers will inevitably take attention away from what will happen in Rancho Mirage. And some if not all of the amateurs who have traditionally played in the ANA Inspiration might be in Augusta that week, again hurting the ANA storylines.

On the other hand, the new amateur tournament and Augusta National’s involvement are very good things for the women’s game. Face it, if they held a croquet event at Augusta National, it would elevate croquet. Augusta National has been resistant to a women’s tournament for so long, but now the fabled course will open its gates to a women’s competition, and that can’t be bad for the women’s game.

Now comes the announcement that the Saturday round of the ANWA will be broadcast on NBC from 9 a.m. to noon on the West Coast. That has to stick in the craw of the ANA Inspiration since all four rounds of that tournament are broadcast on Golf Channel. The ANA is the only one of the five LPGA majors that doesn’t have at least one day of play or highlights of play broadcast on a major network. And now the new ANWA in its first year lands on NBC for its final round.

Sure, it’s easy to say any complaints about the ANWA sounds like sour grapes from the ANA Inspiration and its supporters. Augusta National is doing something for women’s golf that can only be positive. The history and tradition and the great golf course at the ANA Inspiration are positives, too, but growing golf, especially women’s golf, means focusing on the present and the future.

But the entire episode pitting two high-profile women’s golf events against each other still has to leave a bad taste in the mouths of some, especially LPGA veterans and those who have supported the ANA Inspiration, a tournament that was a pillar for the women’s game when few people were paying attention to the LPGA at all.

But rest assured that the ANA Inspiration will continue on as a strong part of the LPGA, even if there is no major network coverage and even if there is another event that week taking some of the attention.

Larry Bohannan is The Desert Sun golf writer. He can be reached at (760) 778-4633 or larry.bohannan@desertsun.com. Follow him on Facebook or on Twitter at @Larry_Bohannan.